Geetika suicide case: Accused Kanda granted bail

New Delhi, Sept 5: Former Haryana Minister Gopal Goyal Kanda finally has been granted bail in Geetika Sharma suicide case. Kanda, who was lodged in a jail in Delhi for over 14 months, sought bail to attend upcoming assembly session in the state.

Additional Sessions Judge in a Delhi court -- MC Gupta earlier had reserved his order on Kanda's plea after hearing arguments from his counsel and the prosecution.

The Delhi Police also had moved an application for reducing the period of interim bail granted to Kanda's co-accused Aruna Chadha. Aruna was granted interim bail till Nov 11 for attending religious and family events.

Earlier during the arguments, Kanda's counsel senior advocate Ramesh Gupta said, "he (Kanda) is an MLA from Haryana and he wants to attend the assembly session for which he is seeking interim bail."

"He is an MLA from Sirsa which is a big constituency. He has to perform many obligations and welfare activities for his people. Funds for his constituency are lying unutiliszed. Public is suffering, in the end," added the lawyer.

The counsel also said Kanda has been in custody for over 14 months now and the police investigation is complete and there is nothing left for the police to apprehend that he might hamper the case. Additional Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan opposed his plea for interim bail saying "there is reasonable apprehension of his tampering with the evidence."

"In Feb 2013, there was a session of Haryana assembly. When Kanda did not feel the need to seek bail for attending it, why is he seeking interim bail for this session? There is reasonable apprehension of him tampering with the evidence," lawyer added.

OneIndia News
(With PTI inputs)